China Trade war?

[Fredkrueger100]

Not likely. If you listen to the media, it's going to be WWIII and everybody in the US is going to suffer greatly. The media said that. It has to be true. We must concede to China ripping off our manufacturing and our intellectual secrets they have spied on us to obtain. If we don't, our economy will be ruined. Give to them, and accept nothing in return.

Steve Hilton on Fox Sunday has a different perspective actually promoting the facts of the trade between the US and China. There are some that will have some $$ issues in the US during this tiff. Farmers being part of it with sales of soybeans and other commodities.
That is a shoestring business I'm part of so it concerns me as well as others on this forum and nationwide. China declared a trade war on us many years ago and we let them win that war. The New Sheriff in town is not willing to do that.
According to Steve, are we dependant on China in our economy like the media wants us to believe?
No is the answer. Imports from China are just 2.7% of the U.S. Economy.
Exports to China are just 0.9% of the U.S. economy according to the Office of the united states trade representative bureau of economic analysis.

96% of our economy is not China based with those numbers.
Welcome to the facts.

Don’t forget about the Clinton’s giving some of our technology to China in exchange for millions. They didn’t have to spy to get it then.

 

[Ethan N]

The american taxpayer is still paying, though. Both through the increase in price and through the subsidies we're now paying to our own farmers because of the tariff battle

I know it increases prices. You can’t get around the consequences of taxation. But in general I prefer tariffs. I think tariffs are more practical and less harmful to the economy in the long-run, but my opinions on this are mainly philosophical (do what’s more just, not what costs less). I’ll also say it’s a topic I admittedly don’t know as much about as I’d like to, so my views might easily be changed.

I also think farm subsidies hurt farmers in the long-run, and hurt the resiliency of the food industry.

All this government manipulation trying to encourage economic activity x and discourage economic activity y and help prop up essential economic activity z ultimately makes markets that are unstable and industries that are unviable without the government getting even more involved to try to “fix” the problems they caused in the first place. That’s not the only reason I think farm subsidies hurt farmers, but couldn’t help but put that rant out there.

 

[Tanis143]

All this government manipulation trying to encourage economic activity x and discourage economic activity y and help prop up essential economic activity z ultimately makes markets that are unstable and industries that are unviable without the government getting even more involved to try to “fix” the problems they caused in the first place. That’s not the only reason I think farm subsidies hurt farmers, but couldn’t help but put that rant out there.

I'll agree with this wholeheartedly. Honestly I think Economics should be a required course to graduate high school, it opened my eyes to a lot of things though honestly it took me a bit more to mature enough to fully understand it. The biggest thing I got from that class though was the basic concepts around the law of supply and demand. When left alone, that law will stabilize markets and keep prices and costs low. However, artificial manipulation will always cause it to go askew, much like trying to "fix" the rotation of a gyroscope out of its perceived flawed orbit.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

As for me? I'd rather see better and more durable products than cheap throwaway crap.

Woody

 

[Tanis143]

As for me? I'd rather see better and more durable products than cheap throwaway crap.

Woody

Those days are long gone my friend. From cars to tvs, nothing is meant to last anymore. Why should it? Companies get more money when you have to turn around in 5-8 years and buy a new <enter object here>.

 

[dennishoddy]

I think it gets lost in the thinking process that this action by Trump is to level the field on tariffs. You don’t see a lot of American vehicles overseas because among other issues, they have huge tariffs on them. Some countries charge up to 100% tariff on US built motor vehicles.
Just think about how our automotive industry could thrive with a level playing field.
I don’t remember when the US imposed high tariffs on foreign built autos, but the net result was those companies coming to the US and building plants here.
That’s exactly how we built chinas economy. They imposed high tariffs and manufacturers moved there to build plants.

 

[Louro]

China Need only to hold out for maybe another 18 months, in 2020 if DJT loose the elections everything is going back to the way it was. China taking advantage of the US.

 

[Ethan N]

We can talk all we want about how government should not be attempting to affect the economy, and quote all the "wise sayings" from the past, but the reality is that we are way past that thought and now we have to operate through the .gov environment to one degree or another. Way too many special interest groups to hope that we could ever get back to true free markets.

Not with that attitude.

There are always people who think we’re in a new age with new problems and the lessons of the past can’t help us – we’re past that, they say. Hogwash. History is cyclical. The political environment shifts between generations, but the problems are fundamentally the same. There’s nothing new about government manipulation of the economy or special interest groups dominating economic policy. That’s been happening for millennia. It’s been fought successfully before. It can be done again. And even if we didn’t have a chance of having a free market again, we still have to educate and we still have to push back. The more government meddles in the economy, the poorer most of us will be. The proper role of government is not something that can become irrelevant as you’re suggesting. You seem to have a very low view of those who came before us and the things they can teach us. They were up against much bigger obstacles to liberty than we are. There’s no reason to think that they could succeed but we can’t.

But the pessimists have to be overcome along the way.

 

[xseler]

People are like popcorn....

Early poppers --- accept change easily and early in the cycle.
Regular poppers --- see that everyone else is changing then follows suit.
Non-poppers --- won't change no matter how much pressure or heat is applied.

.

 

[Dumpstick]

Those days are long gone my friend. From cars to tvs, nothing is meant to last anymore. Why should it? Companies get more money when you have to turn around in 5-8 years and buy a new <enter object here>.

You're kidding, right ?
I remember when cars with 100k miles were worn out rust buckets. Most cars lasted 6-8 years max.

Now, the average car on the road in the US is 11+ years old. And, these 11+ year old cars get 3 times the mileage of cars 40 years ago, and pump out a tiny fraction of the pollution.

I recently sold a car with 265k miles on it. It's still on the road. I replaced it with a car with 112k on the clock, and expect another 125k from it, at the minimum.

Don't you remember cars that needed points and plugs every 3-5k miles ?
When is the last time you even checked the oil between changes ?

Technology has changed automobiles in a drastic way.